The Ontario Racing Commission at its meeting of Tuesday, January 22, 2008, approved the Trainer Transfer Guidelines Policy as follows:
The Ontario Racing Commission is committed to improved communication to the horse racing community. It has determined that the industry should have access to information regarding the criteria used and the decisions made surrounding trainer transfers.
The following factors shall be taken into consideration by the Judges and Stewards when making their determination of applications for trainer transfers:
- The degree of closeness of any relationship, whether it be fiduciary, employee/employer and/or family in nature;
- The past conduct of the proposed trainer; and
- The licensing history of the proposed trainer.
Final determination of suitability is the sole discretion of the Judges and Stewards who assess situations on a case by case basis.
Judges or Stewards are required to document in the form of a ruling their decisions on applications for trainer transfers and provide in the ruling their reasons for approving or denying the transfer.